Chapter 16

Wearing nothing but a loincloth and a small leather bag around his neck, William walked to the edge of the stream. Once there, he paused and looked down at the ground. At the border between water and land was a stone that caught his attention. Kneeling, he picked it up.

The stone was the diameter of a quarter with a thickness of a quarter of an inch. The edges were worn smooth. There was nothing remarkable about the stone except for one feature -- the center of the stone had been worn away to produce a hole. It was a stone of great power. Thousands of years had gone into its formation. It required events that were so unlikely that the existence of the stone should be impossible.

William pulled the leather bag from around his neck and attached the stone to it. Replacing it around his neck, he knew the medicine bag was complete. Lucy had made the medicine bag under the supervision of Linda. The bag had traditional beading, but had been decorated with the eagle feathers, the rattle, and, now, the stone. Inside the medicine bag were sacred herbs.

The stream chilled him as he waded into the water until it came to his knees. He cupped his hands. Bending, he filled his hands with water. He lifted his cupped hands over his head and allowed the water to cascade onto his head. He repeated that until his entire body was wet.

His ritual bathing complete, William left the stream and headed towards the sweat lodge. He noted with satisfaction that it was well placed for communication with the spirits. The door opened eastwards, the direction from which everything starts. He picked up his drum. Days of preparation had brought him to the proper mental and emotional state for his spirit journey. It was now necessary to undergo the ritual cleansing of the sweat lodge.

William joined the other men standing outside the small shelter. The oldest man lit a sage smudge and cleansed each man with its smoke. After a prayer, half of the men entered the shelter with him. The floor of the sweat lodge was covered with cedar boughs. The other half of the men, the Dog Soldiers, remained outside to tend the fire, pass the stones into the lodge, and to protect the ceremony.

Once the men had sat down upon the cedar boughs, a dog soldier thrust stones into the lodge using a forked stick. The largest stone went into the middle of the central pit. Around the center stone, stones were placed in the four cardinal directions. As each stone was brought into the lodge, it was sprinkled with sage. The air filled with the rich scent. Water was sprinkled onto the rocks creating a cloud of steam. The men passed around an ancient pipe.

The oldest man started beating on his drum. William followed suit. When the chanting started, the atmosphere in the lodge changed. The physical reality of the world outside disappeared, to be replaced by a smoky otherworld feel. Time passed as more stones were brought into the sweat lodge. The pores of William's skin opened and his body was soon covered with thin film of sweat.

When the last of the rocks had cooled in the sweat lodge, one of the dog soldiers opened the flap covering the entrance. Fresh air rushed in displacing the steam and smell of sage. William's mind cleared with influx the fresh air.

One of the men pointed down a path. William knew that he was to follow the path to a small cave along a cliff for his vision quest. Mediating, he made the walk along the path. After walking for two hours he arrived at the cave. Taking a seat he mediated and waited for his vision to descend upon him.

William entered the fog. Beneath his feet was the hard dust of the desert. There was a small murmur of noise as if water was cascading through a distant shallow narrow of a river. He waited for his guide to arrive. Time had lost its normal progression as he was in another world.

A raven appeared before him and gave forth a croak that said, "Follow me."

When the raven took wing, William followed. As he walked the path, the nature of the path changed from desert to woodland to plains to swamp, but the fog surrounding him remained. Along the way, animals appeared along the path. In each natural environment, the animals special to those places presented themselves to him. There was the rattlesnake, deer, bear, otter, eagle, hawk, mouse, buffalo, coyote, and cougar, to name a few. At each animal, the raven paused for William to give honor to the animal.

The raven led William to the edge of a great meadow surrounded by ancient oak trees. The fog rolled back revealing the meadow in its full glory. The sun shined from above. Vines blocked his path to the meadow. Around him, the seasons changed. The vines withered and fell away. With a last croak, the raven left leaving William free to enter the meadow.

The vision lifted and William's consciousness returned to the cave. Standing, he returned down the path that he had followed to reach the cave. Reaching the sweat lodge, he greeted the men waiting for him. The ritual of the sweat lodge was repeated.

When the last stone had cooled. The other men in the lodge stopped their drumming and chanting. All turned to look at William. In a gruff voice, he said, "Always the same vision."

"Talks With Animals," said one of the men capturing in one statement both William's name and the interpretation of the majority of the vision. The other men nodded their agreement. No one would talk about the end of the vision.

Stepping outside the sweat lodge, William felt weak and extremely tired. He had gone three days without food or sleep. He returned to the stream and washed the sweat from his body. The cool water against his hot body chilled and refreshed him. One of the men who had waited outside the sweat lodge handed him a bottle of sports drink and said, "Drink this. You'll feel better."

Smiling his thanks, William accepted the bottle. It was lukewarm, which was better for him than ice cold. Opening it, he took a long swallow replacing water and minerals that had been lost in the sweat lodge. He knew not to drink more than his body could handle. Now that his throat was not quite so rough, he said, "Thanks."

Chief Awa Tsireh asked, "What will you do now?"

"I will go home, work on my dissertation, and love my girlfriend."

"What about the White Buffalo?"

"I'll go to the sweat lodge at the Native American College and then go to the ranch in August," answered William.

Chief Awa Tsireh smiled and nodded his head at the idea that William would go to the Native American College first. He knew that William placed the five hundred tribes above any single tribe and, in his opinion, that was the right thing to do. He said, "You do your great-grandfather great honor by that choice. You do all of the Native American people a great service."

William walked into the Carter House and was immediately met by Mary Gold holding her normal pad of paper. She said, "Welcome back, William. I've only got a few items for you."

"I'm tired," said William knowing that wouldn't stop her.

"It'll just take a minute," said Mary in her incredibly sexy voice. She glanced at him and then continued, "First item. There is a William Redbird who wants to interview you for the Native American Times. He's staying in Phoenix waiting to meet you."

"Give me the rest before I decide on that one," said William. He didn't really want to give an interview, but knew that he wasn't going to be able to avoid it.

"Second item. I've got three locations identified where you can work on your dissertation. First one is at Lake George, New York. The second one is in Princeton, Iowa. The third one is outside of Pine Bluff, Arkansas."

"Tell me about Pine Bluff."

"It's an isolated house along the river about fifteen minutes outside of Pine Bluff. There's fishing and hunting in the area," answered Mary Gold. She had examined aerial photographs of the area and had liked it.

"Set up a visit to it on the way back to Pennsylvania in two days."

"Alone?"

"Lucy and I," answered William.

Mary Gold smiled and made a note to that effect on her pad. Looking up, she said, "Third item. Ann will be going to Denver for a week to look at the halls for the wedding. We've set her up with a hotel and driver."

"Good. Make sure she has the resources to have a good time," said William.

"I've already done that. Cathy will go there with her to make sure that she spends it," said Mary with a smile.

"Very good."

"Fourth item. Your play money account hit two hundred million again. One of the special effects companies you invested in hit it big at the box office. Its stock price went from four to forty almost overnight."

William frowned as he considered the news. He sighed and said, "Give me a list of charities and I'll move half of the money to them. Get the accountants to calculate the taxes on eighty million. I'll move the after-tax money over to my conservative accounts and start over at twenty million in my play money account."

"That only took you six months this time," said Mary.

"I know," answered William. Sighing, he asked, "Any more items?"

"Nope."

"Tell William Redbird that I'll meet him at Shirley's Bar tomorrow at noon," said William. He yawned and said, "I'm going to sleep now."

It was eleven when William and Lucy left for Shirley's Bar to meet William Redbird. Walking down the street, William introduced Lucy to the neighbors. The neighbors greeted Lucy like a long lost friend. All of them welcomed her to the town with the kind of graciousness that was humbling.

Lucy was amazed at the lack of conflict between the rich and poor of town. In fact, she found it difficult to distinguish between the two classes. She had met Rosa and thought she was middleclass until she found out that the woman owned one of the largest chains of Mexican food restaurants in the state. The small three-bedroom house didn't seem the kind of house that would appeal to a millionaire.

It took almost forty-five minutes to reach Shirley's bar. Lucy looked at William puzzled by the destination. She said, "We're not old enough to go in there."

"Don't worry about it," said William with a smile while holding the door open for her.

Concerned, she entered the bar. Much to her surprise, it was well lit and very nicely decorated with a western theme. She wondered if all bars were so nice. She said, "Wow. Nice."

"Thank you," said Shirley looking at the young lady at the door with a smile. She saw William enter and her smile changed into a broad grin. She asked, "The usual?"

"You bet and one of the same for Lucy," said William.

Lucy nudged him and said, "I don't drink."

Shirley set two soft drinks on the counter and said, "So you brought the mysterious girl friend here to met me."

"Shirley, I'd like you to meet Lucy, my fiancee. Lucy, this is my Aunt Shirley," said William.

Shirley said, "Welcome to the family, Lucy."

"Thank you," said Lucy wondering why Shirley hadn't come by the house. She asked, "Are you Kelly's sister?"

"John is my son," answered Shirley. At the lack of response, she added, "Beth's husband."

"Oh," said Lucy.

"William calls half of the people in this town aunt or uncle despite the fact that he's not related to most of them," said Shirley. She winked at William and added, "Of course, half of the town is embarrassed by that. He's such a naughty little boy."

Lucy laughed at the obvious joke. Recalling the walk down the street, Lucy said, "It seems to be a very close knit community."

"Yeah. A lot of that is because of Ed Biggers," said Shirley with a twinkle in her eye. She wasn't going to mention that half the women in town were in love with him.

Lucy recognized the twinkle in the eye as meaning something more than suggesting they were just good friends. She raised an eye wondering if there was more to the story than Shirley had said. Then she recalled something that William had said about Eddie and the need to lock up the girls in town.

William handed a drink to Lucy and said, "Here's a coke. We need to get ready for William Redbird."

Even as he finished speaking, the door of the bar opened and a middle aged Native American entered the bar. He looked around, his eyes caressing the bottles of booze on the wall behind Shirley. Taking a deep breath, he said, "I'll take a coke."

Shirley had noticed the way he had eyed the bottles. In an off-hand voice, she asked, "Are you in AA?"

"Yes," answered the man.

"The bar is closed for you. I hope you don't mind, but I won't be a party to a man falling off the wagon," said Shirley.

The man looked at Shirley with hostility and asked, "Are you doing that because I'm a Native American?"

Unperturbed by the hostility, Shirley pointed over her shoulder to a small sign and said, "We don't sell to members of AA even if they've already fallen off the wagon."

The sign gave a number of conditions under which they wouldn't sell alcohol. Included in the list was membership in AA. The man leaned forward and read the other conditions. They wouldn't sell an alcoholic drink to someone angry? No alcoholic drinks for designated drivers? He looked over at her and said, "You're kidding, aren't you? No drinks to someone angry?"

"Very serious," answered Shirley. She wiped down the counter while she added, "I'm happy enough to serve soft drinks and iced tea. No reason I have to push alcohol. No reason I have to contribute to destructive behavior. Everyone in here drinks responsibly or they don't drink."

The man replied, "Oh."

William said, "William Redbird. We're over here."

The man turned away from the rows of bottles on the wall and noticed William with Lucy standing beside him. As he walked over to the couple, he said, "Call me Beak."

"Beak?" asked William. Lucy giggled at the nickname.

"William Redbird... Bill Redbird... Redbird Bill... Beak... Get it?" said the reporter. He smiled at the grin that appeared on William's face and said, "It was my brother, my big brother, who came up with the name. He's called me Beak for as long as I can remember."

William said, "Allow me to introduce Lucy to you."

"Pleased to meet you ma'am," said Beak. He sipped his coke and looked back at the bar shaking his head. He still couldn't get over the idea of a bar posting a sign reserving the right to refuse selling drinks to members of AA.

"Let's take a seat over there. No one will bother us while you're interviewing us," said William.

The trio moved over to a table and took seats even as the bar filled with the lunchtime crowd. Beak pulled out a notepad and a recorder. Placing the recorder on the table and pointing to it, he asked, "Do you mind if I record this?"

"Go ahead," answered William.

"This is William Redbird. For the record will you introduce yourselves and spell your names," said Beak looking across the table.

William introduced himself and spelled his name. He looked over at Lucy and said, "Your turn."

"Me?" asked Lucy wondering why they would include her. As far as she understood, the interview was between William and Beak.

"Of course, it's time to announce our engagement to the world. Might as well give Beak the exclusive," answered William.

"Why me?" asked Beak surprised.

"Saves us from having to give another interview," answered William. The family's public relations firm would handle announcements to the news services. He made a mental note to warn them that he had leaked the news to the press.

Lucy stared at William in surprise. It took her a minute to realize that their marriage was a newsworthy item. It took her a moment to recover, but she supplied her name and spelled it in response to a follow up by Beak.

"So tell me how you two met."

William and Lucy took turns explaining the circumstances of how they met. They left out the more personal details about the actions of her roommate. Lucy offered how she had been upset and that William had comforted her. Even as she spoke, William knew that her words would come back to haunt her if published. While Beak wouldn't investigate why she was upset, he knew that other reporters would do it. He interrupted, "Beak, I hope you will treat her emotional state at the time we met as being off the record."

Looking from William to Lucy, Beak said, "I sense a story here."

Lucy was about to answer, when William said, "She was fifteen and going to school at a university. A lot of kids older than her have a hard time adjusting to being away from their parents. Let's leave it at that."

"Good enough," said Beak. He gave William a look that suggested the young man owed him a favor. William nodded in acknowledgement.

Beak asked, "So when is the big date for the wedding?"

"We haven't established that yet. My mother is scouting out a location and we'll set the date when we know what is available," answered Lucy.

"You'll let me know when you know the date and time?" asked Beak.

"Of course," answered William.

"Changing the topic a little, I'd like to ask about the birth of the White Buffalo. As you know, it was among the first calves conceived after you broke the curse upon the Native American people. Do you have any comments?"

"First, I was not alone in breaking the curse. Medicine men of many tribes participated in the events of that day, as did warriors. I owe my life to those good men," answered William leaning forward to make his point.

"I'm aware of that," said Beak.

"Second, I don't know how to interpret the timing of the birth. I wouldn't want to speak for the Great Spirit."

"Fair enough."

"Third, it is a significant event for all Native Americans, not just those of the plains. I would not be surprised if other signs of increasing power are seen in the near future," said William.

Surprised by the suggestion of further signs, Beak leaned forward and asked, "Such as?"

"I can't say. I wouldn't dare speak for the Great Spirit. The one thing that I do know is that the people of the plains are not the only ones who are waiting for a sign of their return to greatness. I sincerely doubt the Great Spirit will not provide those signs."

"Interesting," said Beak wondering if William knew something from a vision. "Will you go to see the White Buffalo?"

"Yes, I plan to go in August."

"Will you cleanse yourself before visiting?" asked Beak.

"Yes."

It was time for Beak to ask the question that everyone was wondering. He asked, "Where will you go?"

"The sweat lodge at the Native American College," answered William.

"You place a great importance on the Native American College."

"Of course I do. My great-grandfather was one of the founders."

While William took a sip of his soft drink, Beak said, "The Sioux are angry about new age frauds claiming to have learned the spiritual secrets of Native Americans. Many of our people agree that these frauds have gone too far in marketing and profiting off our beliefs. What are your thoughts on the matter?"

"Spiritual secrets of Native Americans? They claim to have learned them?" asked William rhetorically. He chuckled and said, "There are as many spiritual secrets as there are Native Americans. Each of us meets the Great Spirit alone and in private. Claims of knowing the Spiritual Secrets of Native Americans are easily dismissed."

"That doesn't prevent them from making the claim and profiting from it," said Beak.

"Then let them show their diploma from the Native American College or their name on the registry of Medicine Men that is kept there," replied William.

"What good will that do?"

"If they aren't in the registry, then their claim is false. If they make a false claim, they can be sued. That would tend to eat into their profits," said William with a feral grin. In a voice that sent chills down the back of Beak, William said, "Let the warriors loose upon them."